1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to formable reusable enclosures, and more particularly to such enclosures that may be compactly stored and packed for shipping, which are inexpensive to manufacture, and which may be used for gripping insulating enclosures for containers and for mailing tubes and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known in the prior art to insulate a container to maintain the contents at a pre-established warm or cold temperature. Many containers, such as paper cups, bottles and cans, are used as single serving dispensers of beverages which are intended to be consumed while the beverage is still hot or chilled. Normally the single service containers are used upon filling with a hot or cold beverage or upon removal from a refrigerator. If consumption is rapid enough, the beverage is consumed while still at least somewhat warm or chilled. However, in low or high temperature environments the temperature of the liquid may rise or fall rapidly. Thus, various insulating enclosures have been developed.
Further, condensation on the external surface of such containers may present problems. With chilled liquids condensate forms quickly on the sides of the containers, and runs down the sides to join the condensate formed on the bottom of the container. This results in slippery container sides which makes them messy to handle and difficult to grip and in puddles on any support surface.
Conventional container insulating jackets are available which are formed of vinyl or polyurethane tubing, and are usually rather rigid. Packaging of such insulators during both transportation and sale requires an inordinate amount of volume and space which isn't commensurate with the sales price and profit margins.
The just discussed volume and space requirements also apply to enclosures used for mailing tubes and the like.
To overcome the just described space and volume problems, a number of enclosures have been designed which can be shipped flat. In U.S. Pat. No. 228,002 a bottle wrapper is disclosed which consists of a flat sheet which is rolled into a tube shape with the edges detachably united by a hook-shaped tongue which is inserted into a slot. This bottle wrapper does not have any size adjustment capability or real insulating qualities, and the hook/slot arrangement is inherently unstable in retaining the rolled sheet in a cylindrical shape.
U.S. Pat. No. 234,582 discloses a bottle wrapper formed by rolling a sheet of paper board into a tube shape. The paper board has numerous holes formed therethrough with ragged edges projecting on the inner side. The tube is retained against unrolling by vertical, opposed slots formed in the ends of the sheet which are mutually engaged. This wrapper does not have any size adjustment capability, has minimal insulating qualities, and the vertically opposed slots are also inherently unstable in retaining the rolled sheet in a cylindrical shape. The ragged holes on the inner side of sheet cannot help stability of alignment because adjacent lines of holes have the holes offset from the next line so there is nothing for the ragged edges to catch on to maintain alignment, leaving only the pivot point at the ends of the slots to hold the tube in a cylinder shape.
The bottle wrapper in U.S. Pat. No. 248,770 also lacks insulating qualities, size adjustment capabilities, and the tongue/slot arrangement is also inherently unstable in maintaining a desired shape.
U.S. Pat. No. 502,951 discloses a fruit jar protector formed from single wall corrugated board which is rolled into a tube. While there is a stability to the tube shape because the ends of the rolled tube are secured together with a strip of adhesive tape, there is no inherently available means for adjusting the size of the enclosure. Moreover, the user would be required to carry spare adhesive strips all of the time to join the ends of the tube and find a way to properly dispose of used strips.
Other formable reusable enclosures available in the prior art have similar and/or additional deficiencies, and are generally much more expensive to manufacture.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved formable reusable enclosure which may be used as an insulated container wrap, a mailing tube, a tubular or other shaped receptacle, or the like.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a formable reusable enclosure which may be stored or shipped in a planar configuration, but may be formed into an enclosure and held in a stable enclosure configuration with a locking means which is included in the planar structure.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved enclosure as described in the preceding paragraph which has insulating, gripping, condensate reduction and size adjustment features.
Other objects, advantages and features of the invention will become apparent when the following description is taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.